Billionaire Mai Vu Minh: Success based on "three pillars”

Business philosophy from the heart

In 2017, Terminal System (the global financial news agency with 350,000 accounts) of Bloomberg posted the news that Vietnamese-German billionaire Mai Vu Minh has invested $400 million in the Vietnamese and global startup markets.

Billionaire Mai Vu Minh and Russian President Vladimir Putin

Minh holds many projects and shares in a number of large corporations in countries around the world and is honoured across the world of business and politics for his sharp strategic thinking and multi-billion dollar assets, Mai Vu Minh is one of the most secretive billionaires in the world.

Philipp Rosler, former Deputy Prime Minister of Germany and managing director of the World Economic Forum, with Mai Vu Minh

While he can be often seen in clubs dedicated to billionaires or standing alongside world leaders such as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, local and foreign media know very little about him. Currently, the media only knows that in 2014, his company SAPA Thale bought the WHE management building of Schunk Group – one of the largest engineering corporations in Germany.

In July 2017, during Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany, Mai Vu Minh had the honour to take a photo with the prime minister and was praised for SAPA Thale company's contributions to the country and the overseas Vietnamese community. Especially, he was the main sponsor for all the paintings decorating the walls of Vietnamese embassies across the world.

At the APEC 2017, Mai Vu Minh’s name also appeared on the list of sponsors and contributors to the event, right next to big Vietnamese and overseas corporations.

Mai Vu Minh and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Over the years, Minh has been a firm member of the world’s select club of billionaires, building his success on the principle of “three pillars.”

Accordingly, success comes from three pillars, including knowledge, physical strength and mental strength. While knowledge is key to keep the individual inspired, to become a high-calibre manager, training the mind is the most important. “For a long time now most of my important business decisions are based on this,” Minh pointed to his left chest and explained: “I believe that even on a global scale, a businessman gains success thanks to his heart and feelings rather than his talent."

“I choose my homeland”

“My life revolves around the word ‘Choice.’ Even if people want to live by the word “Mind” or “Morality,” they still have to make choices. Life’s journey is a colourful succession of forks in the road, each a choice of a new direction to go in,” Mai Vu Minh said. “And I choose my homeland,” he continued.

Billionaire Mai Vu Minh and Chinese President Xi Jinping

Although the business environment in Vietnam still has many difficulties, he has been enthusiastically helping along his homeland by awarding scholarships to promising students in difficult circumstances and sponsoring domestic and foreign programmes and events organised by Vietnam. Minh is constantly on the lookout for opportunities to invest and contribute to the construction of Vietnam.